Disabled Goldfish Gets Floating Wheelchair

Life is now going swimmingly for a golden goldfish that just got its own underwater wheelchair. An aquarium worker named Derek has cleverly designed a fashionable, tiny “wheelchair” for a disabled goldfish.

The goldfish is infected by swim bladder disease. Swim bladder disease, also called swim bladder disorder or flipover, is a common disease. The swim bladder is an internal gas-filled organ that contributes to the ability of a fish to help its buoyancy, and thus to stay at the current water depth without having to waste energy in swimming. A fish with swim bladder disorder can float nose down tail up or can float to the top or to the bottom of the aquarium. Fancy Goldfishes in aquariums are among the fish most commonly affected by this disorder. This is caused by intestinal parasites or by constipation induced by high nitrate levels from over-feeding.

Derek cleverly went and got some airline tubing that people usually use in their tank and just placed it around the goldfish. He added some valves to the bottom of it, which acted as a ‘chair’ to prop him up. He added weights to the bottom of the ‘chair’ and something to keep him afloat on top (styrofoam), and slowly removed pieces until he achieved just the right buoyancy to make it easy for him to swim around without feeling like he is dragging around a chair. The bottom weight is almost equal to pull on top so it works well for him.

Illustration by Nimi S.